Presidency not commenting on Nchindo death

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Tuesday February 16, 2010 00:00

 

When asked what he felt about Nchindo's death, Mogae said: 'For any family, the loss of a father and husband is a tragedy. But beyond that there is nothing that I can say,' he told this reporter.

Mogae was once a close friend of the deceaseds, but the relationship is said to have taken a dive after the duo had a fallout. Just a few weeks before his death, Mogae revealed that whilst he was president, Nchindo once tried to blackmail him into stopping the corruption charges against him (Nchindo).   The former president revealed in a newspaper interview that Nchindo tried to expose his secrets, including the extra-marital affairs he had whilst president. Later Nchindo zoomed in and called Mogae a liar: 'With particular reference to the remarks about myself contained in last week's edition of the Botswana Guardian, attributed to my friend and former President F.G Mogae, these are not only unfortunate and unwise, but sadly manifestly untrue and distorted,' Nchindo said in the rebuttal.

President Ian Khama's press officer, Sipho Madisa has said that his principal would not comment at the moment as police investigations are still on going.

'At this stage it would be inappropriate for us to comment because investigations are still on-going. Once we know what happened that is when we will issue a statement,' he said. Botswana's second president, Sir Ketumile Masire was said to be unavailable for comment at the time of going for press. In a media expose in local newspapers, it was revealed that De Beers helped Masire out of financial ruin at the insistence of Nchindo. Masire has since confirmed that indeed he benefited from Nchindo's gesture.